<Gt3* 


ADDRESS  OF 


JUDGE  J.  Z.  GEORGE, 


BELIVERED  AT 


At  the  Laying  of  the  Corner  Stone 

(. 

OF  THE 


Agricultural  and  ;>|cchanical  -ffpollege. 


September  22,  1879. 


JACKSON,  MISS.: 

THE  COMET  B<OOK  PRINTING  ESTABLISHMENT. 
1879. 


JUDGE  J.  Z.  GEORGE, 


Delivered  at  Starkville,  Miss.,  September  22,  1879. 


The  business  which  has  brought  us  together,  is  one 
of  serious  import — the  inauguration  of  the  A.  & M. 
College,  by  laying  its  corner-stone. 

As  the  enterprise  is  new,  as  it  proposes  new  methods 
of  education,  and  seeks  to  attain  new  ends,  it  is  well 
some  explanation  should  be  made  of  the  purposes  of 
the  Trustees. 

I shall,  therefore,  point  out  some  of  the  difficulties 
which  are  to  be  overcome*  if  success  be  attained,  and 
call  attention  to  some  of  the  objects  which  it  is  pro- 
posed to  be  accomplished,  and  give  some  of  the  rea- 
sons which  justify,  and,  in  my  judgment,  demand  the 
liberal  and  generous  support  of  the  institution  by  the 
Legislature  and  the  public. 

First  Need. 

The  first  great  need  for  this  College  is,  that  it  shall 
unite  what  has  heretofore  in  Mississippi,  at  least,  been 
separated — high  mental  culture  and  manual  labor. 

We  propose  to  yoke  these  two  forces  together,  and 


[ 4 ] 


send  them  out  on  the  mission  of  building"  up  Missis- 
sippi— advancing  her  to  that  high  plane  of  material 
prosperity  and  intellectual  improvement  to  which  her 
natural  resources  and  the  genius  of  her  people  entitle 
her. 

Education  of  Brain  and  Hand. 

We  propose  to  educate  the  brain  and  the  hand  to- 
gether; to  make  the  same  human  being  both  a thinker 
and  a worker.  As  God  has  given  each  one  of  his 
children  both  hands  and  brains,  muscle  and  intellect, 
we  propose  in  training  this  work,  to  follow  the  order 
He  has  pointed  out;  not  to  mar  or  counteract  it.  He 
gave  us  the  physical  and  intellectual  man  united  in 
one — the  mind  to  think  and  the  body  to  labor.  This 
is  the  perfect  being  that  God  created  and  placed  on 
this  earth  to  work  out  his  destiny.  We  propose  to 
train  and  educate  this  being  in  all  his  faculties,  powers 
and  endowments,  as  he  received  them  from  his  Creator. 
We  do  not  propose  to  make  half  men — by  stimulating 
the  intellect  into  an  abnormal  activity,  and  leaving  the 
body  to  waste  and  perish;  nor  do  we  propose  to  reverse 
this  by  the  developing  muscle  unnaturally,  and  crush- 
ing out  the  spiritual  and  intellectual  part  of  our  being. 

We  propose  to  make  here  no  dreamers,  no  splendid 
and  dazzling  intellectual  prodigies,  with  neither  the 
capacity  nor  the  will  to  do  the  world’s  works  nor,  on 
the  other  hand,  do  we  propose  to  make  machines  of 
men,  mere  automatons — to  be  worked  and  moved  by 
the  will  and  intellect  of  others.  We  would  endow 
each  man  with  power  to  conceive  and  determine  what 
he  should  do,  and  how  it  should  be  done,  and  with  the 
capacity  and  will  to  work  out  practically,  with  his  own 
hands,  his  own  conceptions. 

Within  these  halls  and  in  these  fields,  as  a part  of  a 


[ 5 ] 


system  of  education,  we  propose  that  study  and  man- 
ual labor  shall  go  hand  in  hand,  so  that  the  graduate 
of  this  institution  may  be  able  to  know  what  to  do, 
how  to  do  it,  and  then  be  able  to  do  for  himself  what 
he  has  judged  should  be  performed. 

So  much  for  the  general  aims  of  this  College.  But 
as  neither  all  kinds  of  manual  labor  can  be  efficiently 
performed  by  one  man,  nor  the  whole  circle  of  human 
knowledge  mastered  by  him,  we  propose  to  select  from 
this  work  and  this  knowledge  that  which  the  needs  of 
Mississippi  most  demand  shall  be  performed  and  pos- 
sessed by  her  people. 

The  interests  of  Mississippi  are  almost  exclusively 
agricultural.  Her  climate,  her  soil,  the  world’s  need 
for  her  crops,  the  absence  of  mines,  and  quarries,  and 
sea  ports,  the  tastes  and  habits  of  her  people,  all 
demonstrate  that  the  foundation  of  her  prosperity  lies 
in  successful  agriculture. 

The  present  condition  of  our  people,  their  debts  and 
embarrasments ; the  present  condition  of  our  agricul- 
ture, our  worn  out  and  exhausted  fields  in  the  hill  dis- 
tricts ; the  need  of  fertilization,  our  ignorance  of  the 
practice  of  farming  not  based  no  the  natural  fertility 
of  the  soil ; the  disposition  of  the  people  to  remove  to 
fresher  and  newer  countries  ; the  prevalent  desire  to 
abandon  agriculture  for  other  pursuits  ; the  wish  to 
abandon  country  life  and  try  the  precarious,  and  un- 
certain, and  over  crowded  business  of  cities  and  towns; 
the  general  decay  and  shrinkage  of  all  values  ; the 
discontent  and  unrest  of  the  disappointed,  the  immo- 
bility of  despair,  all  admonish  us  that  something  must 
be  done — that  there  must  be  some  change  of  our 
methods  in  the  leading  industry  of  the  State. 


[ 6 ] 

Practical  Agriculture. 

Recognizing  the  needs  of  the  State,  the  Trustees  of 
this  institution  propose  to  have  taught  here,  in  a large 
degree,  that  which  pertains  to  scientific  and  practical 
agriculture,  including  in  this  term  horticulture,  and 
stock  raising;  and  to  teach  that  in  a way  that  the  grad- 
uate shall  really  be  fitted  to  follow  and  practice  agri- 
culture in  all  its  branches.  This  is  our  great  aim  for 
the  present.  In  after  years,  when  agriculture  shall 
have  become  more  prosperous,  and  the  needs  of  the 
State  shall  be  more  in  the  direction  of  manufactories 
or  other  industrial  callings,  the  teaching  of  these  will 
have  more  attention. 

The  education  proposed  to  be  given,  though  looking 
mainly  to  the  fitting  of  the  student  for  a successful 
career  in  agriculture,  will  not,  as  some  erroneously  sup- 
pose, be  small  in  amount  or  ignoble  in  degree. 

Amount  of  Education  for  Agriculture. 

There  is  no  calling  which  men  follow  that  requires  a 
larger  fund  of  information,  a clearer  and  better  train- 
ed judgment,  greater  versatility  in  capacity,  a larger 
abundance  of  mental  resources,  greater  familiarity  with 
the  operation  of  the  laws  of  nature,  than  agriculture. 

All  other  callings  nearly  are  capable  of  sub-divis- 
ions— so  that  their  followers  may  become  specialists 
in  some  parts  or  branches.  I believe  it  requires  the 
separate  work  of  more  than  a half  dozen  to  manufac- 
ture a pin. 

In  agriculture  as  practiced  in  the  United  States, 
there  is  but  little  room  for  such  division  of  labor  and 
knowledge.  On  each  farm,  all  the  knowledge  and  the 
labor  needed  on  all  farms,  are  required.  The  growing 
of  hay,  the  cereals,  cotton,  the  various  garden  vegeta- 


[ 7 ] 


bles,  and  the  fruits  of  the  orchard,  and  vineyard ; the 
breeding  and  rearing  of  cattle,  horses,  mules,  and 
sheep,  and  domestic  fowls  ; the  fattening  of  such  as 
are  desired  for  food  ; provision  against  wind,  rains,  and 
storms,  and  drouth ; the  proper  preparation,  seeding 
and  cultivation  of  the  various  kinds  of  soil ; the  pro- 
tection of  the  crops  against  insects ; the  making  and 
application  of  manures;  the  making  of  fences,  and 
dwellings,  and  out-houses ; the  caring  for  and  growth 
and  preservation  of  suitable  kinds  of  timber ; the  ven- 
tilation and  disinfection  of  all  buildings ; the  care  for 
the  vigor  and  health  of  all  kinds  of  live  stock,  and  the 
proper  remedies  for  those  that  are  diseased,  and  the 
prevention  of  the  spread  of  infection  among  them  i the 
making  of  gates,  bridges,  roads,  ax  and  hoe  handles, 
stocking  of  plows  and  harrows,  drainage  and  landscape 
gardening,  all  are  the  business  of  the  farmer,  and 
should  be  understood  by  him. 

To  do  this  work  intelligently  and  well,  involves  a 
knowledge  of  chemistry,  physics,  mechanics,  civil  en- 
gineering, zoology,  entomology,  physiology,  compara- 
tive anatomy,  botany,  meteorology,  and  geology.  I 
do  not  mean  that  the  farmer  should  thoroughly  under- 
stand all  that  is  embraced  in  these  branches  of  human 
knowledge ; but  I do  mean  to  assert  that  a knowledge 
of  the  general  and  elementary  principles  of  each  is, 
if  not  essential,  at  least  highly  advantageous ; and  that 
the  continued  study  of  them,  in  connection  with  the 
practical  operations  of  his  calling,  furnish  the  farmer 
a wide  and  useful  field  for  high  intellectual  exercise. 

Energy,  pluck,  saving,  though  united  with  ignorance, 
have  won  on  rich  and  unexhausted  lands  a kind  of  pe- 
cuniary success ; but  it  is  temporary  and  costly ; it 
impoverishes  the  soil,  wears  out  the  land,  and,  in  the 


[ 8 ] 

end,  creates  a greater  necessity  for  a more  intelligent 
agriculture. 

No  youth  may  avoid  this  College  because  it  will  not 
teach  enough. 

The  technical  training  of  the  youth  of  Mississippi, 
as  farmers  and  mechanics,  is  the  main  object  of  this 
institution.  Still,  we  do  not  propose  to  stop  the  edu- 
cational process  at  that  point.  The  farmer’s  world, 
though  principally  on  his  farm,  is  not  circumscribed 
by  the  boundary  lines  of  his  land.  We  recognize  that 
he  is  a citizen  of  a free  country — that  he  has  rights 
and  duties  connected  with  the  due  organization 
and  operation  of  governmental  and  social  forces. 
Having  made  the  student  a thinker,  by  the  training 
specially  required  for  a farmer,  we  propose  to  make  him 
a correct  reasoner,  and  to  give  him  the  power  of  elegant 
and  forcible  expression.  He  must  not  only  have  the 
power  to  investigate,  but  to  weigh  and  determine;  and 
having  reached  a conclusion,  he  must  be  able  to  state 
not  only  what  it  is,  but  the  process  by  which  he  reach- 
ed it.  We  therefore  propose  to  accomplish  that  most 
difficult,  yet  most  desirable  of  educational  re- 
sults— training  the  faculty  of  reasoning — giving  it 
healthy  food  for  expansion  and  growth,  and  at  the 
same  time  supplying  the  power  of  a clear  and  forcible 
communication  of  thought. 

We  do  not  except,  nor  do  we  desire  to  bestow  the 
fatal  gift  of  that  elequence  which  equally  subjugates 
the  reason  of  its  possessor,  and  captivates  but  does  not 
convince  its  hearers.  We  do  not  mean  to  make  men  the 
abject  slaves  of  this  power  of  facile  and  elegant  expres- 
sion, nor  to  add  to  the  list  of  the  demented  by  aiding  in  the 
subjection  of  the  brain  to  the  tongue;  and  of  thought 
to  speech.  This  disease  is  now  too  common,  and  may 


I 9 ] 

be  denominated  glossamania — lingual  insanity— word- 
madness. 

Dignity  of  Labor. 

We  propose,  also,  to  dignify  and  ennoble  manual  la- 
bor, Under  the  prevailing  system,  the  more  a man  lias 
been  educated,  the  more  he  is  indisposed  to  manual 
labor  ; brain  work  has  been  regarded  as  unfit  to  be 
yoked  with  hand  labor.  And  the  educated  man  tvho 
has  failed  to  gain  his  living  without  a resort  to  manual 
labor,  has  been  regarded  as  a failure  in  life. 

Education  has,  thus  far,  unfitted  men  for  manual 
labor.  It  has  placed  a mark  of  inferiority  on  him,  who 
has  no  other  means  of  subsistence  than  his  own  labor. 
Certain  it  is  that  a large  majority  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  world — a large  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  and  of  this  State,  are  now  compelled-, 
and  will  for  all  time  be  compelled  to  gain  their  living 
by  their  daily  labor. 

There  is  no  way  of  preventing  this.  This  labor  con- 
stitutes the  wealth  and  furnishes  the  comforts  and  lux- 
uries of  the  world.  In  fact,  wealth  is  utterly  valueless 
except  as  an  actual  or  potential  purchaser  of  human 
labor  or  its  results.  That  which  can  be  had  without 
human  labor,  however  useful,  is  without  commercial 
value.  The  air  we  breathe,  though  essential  to  life,  yet 
because  it  is  the  gift  of  nature,  inexhaustable  and  free 
to  all,  is  not  a thing  which  can  be  estimated  as  wealth. 
But  let  a mode  be  discovered  by  which  some  substance 
may,  by  human  labor  be  infused  into  the  air,  making 
it  more  wholesome,  more  health-giving,  and  let  the  air 
thus  improved  be  capable  of  being  confined  to  the 
separate  use  of  him  who  has  thus  improved  it,  and 

then  by  this  addition  of  human  labor  it  becomes 

-2- 


[ 10  ] 

wealth  and’  is*  tlie  object  of  the  desires  and  energies  of 
men. 

If  gold  and  diamonds  were  strewn  all  over  the  land 
like  pebbles  on  the  sea  shore,  they  would  become  as 
worthless  as  a part  of  wealth,  as  the  pebbles  themselves. 

Duty  as  to  Laborers. 

Since  then  all  wealth — all  the  comforts  and  luxuries 
of  life  are  the  product  of  human  labor ; and  since  a 
majority  of  mankind  are,  and  must  always  remain 
laborers,  it  is  the  clear  duty  of  a free  government  in- 
stituted by  the  people  for  the  common  and  equal  good 
of  ail,  to  so  arrange  its  policies  and  administrative 
forces,  that  this  labor  should  be  made  the  highest  of  ef- 
ficiency and  productiveness  to  the  laborer,  and  entirely 
accordant  with  his  physical,  moral,  intellectual  and 
social  well-being.  If  there  is  a stigma  attached  to  it, 
it  must  be  removed  ; if  pleasure  and  improvement  can 
be  associated  with  it,  the  association  must  take  place. 
In  agricultural  pursuits  this  association  is  easy  and 
natural. 

Union  in  Labor  and  Knowledge  of  Agriculture. 

Let  the  agriculturist  learn  the  principles  upon  which 
his  calling  rests ; let  him  be  taught  that  which  tits  in- 
stead of  that  which  unfits  him  for  the  work  he  has  to 
do,  and  he  will  at  every  step  of  his  progress,  have  oc- 
casion to  think,  to  investigate  and  determine.  As  his 
plow  turns  up  the  bosom  of  the  earth,  he  will  observe 
the  nature  and  character  of  the  soil  in  different  parts 
of  the  field,  and  consider  its  adaptabilities  and  its 
wants.  He  will  think  of  the  construction  of  his  plow — 
its  best  shape  to  do  perfect  work,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  secure  the  least  resistance  to  its  progress  in  the 
earth.  And  these  or  similar  mental  operations  will 


1 11  ] 


accompany  all  the  labor  lie  may  perform.  There  is 
not  a single  operation  on  the  farm— not  a blow  stricken, 
with  which  intelligence  and  thought  may  not  be  profit- 
ably associated.  A mind  properly  trained,  and  thus 
exercised  in  all  the  employments  of  the  body,  will 
grow  and  strengthen ; and  with  increased  and  increas- 
ing vigor  and  strength,  will  be  able  to  take  in  and 
solve  all  the  great  problems  of  domestic  and  political 
-economy ; and  last,  though  not  least,  will  dignify  and 
•ennoble  its  occupation,  and  bring  to  its  possessor  the 
pleasures  and  the  triumphs  of  knowledge  and  intellect. 

Creative  Art. 

Agriculture  is  the  only  creative  art.  All  other  works 
of  men  consist  only  in  changing  the  form  of  something 
already  existing,  and  this  change  is  universally  ac- 
complished through  a loss  or  destruction  of  some 
part  of  the  matter  which  has  been  metamorphosed. 
Agriculture  creates  ; it  adds  to  what  before  existed. 
It  plants  one  seed  and  reaps  one  hundred ; 
it  thus  augments  by  ninety-nine  fold  former  ex- 
istences. In  this  creative  process  the  agriculturist 
uses  mainly  the  forces  of  nature.  Shall  he  who  evokes, 
and  subjects  to  the  good  and  happiness  of  mankind, 
the  grand  powers  and  capacities  of  an  infinite  nature? 
be  a dullard  and  an  idiot,  a blind  wanderer  in  the 
great  work-house  of  Providence,  trusting  that  by  luck 
or  chance,  he  may  stumble  on  a prosperous  issue  to 
his  labors  ? 

That  this  technical  education  of  farmers  is  not  uni- 
versally recognized  as  necessary,  is  mainly  due  to  the 
farmers  themselves.  They  have,  in  the  main,  been 
content  to  have  it  regarded  that  agriculture  was  a 
mere  contest  between  the  muscle  of  the  laborer,  and 
the  briars  and  noxious  weeds  which  war  against  their 


[ 12  1 


crops.  When  a farmer  lias  had  the  means  to  educate; 
his  sons,  he  has  educated  them  out  of  agriculture  into 
the  professions’.  It  is  one  of  the  objects  of  this  Col- 
lege to  remove  this  temptation  on  the  part  of  intellect 
and  culture  to  seek  other  walks  in  life  to  the  neglect 
of  agriculture. 

Influence  in  Public. 

The  general  education,  we  propose  to  give  added  to 
the  technical  training,  will  lit  the  farmer  for  instruct- 
ive and  pleasant  social  intercourse,  and  place  him  in 
that  position  where  he  can  take  a useful  part  in  public 
affairs,  and  exercise  an  influence  beneficial  to  the 
State. 

I think  the  influence  of  agriculturists  (including  in 
this  term  all  who  by  mechanics  or  otherwise,  contrib- 
ute in  any  way  to  the  development  of  the  agricultural 
wealth  of  the  State)  ought  to  be  increased  in  public 
affairs.  I think  there  ought  to  be  a larger  participa- 
tion by  them  in  the  discharge  of  duties  which  relate 
to  the  due  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  State  and 
the  counties.  I think  that  influence  would  be  good. 
That  it  should  be  good  and  good  only,  it  must  needs 
proceed  from  men  who  have  an  intelligent  conception 
of  the  public  wants,  and  of  the  means  to  provide  for 
these  wants.  I have  no  sympathy  with  the  senseless 
clamor  sometimes  heard  which  would  exclude  from  all 
participation  in  public  offices,  men  however  qualified, 
and  however  patriotic,  merely  because  they  are  not 
connected  directly  with  agriculture;  and  I have  as  little 
for  that  equal  folly  that  demands  the  selection  of  an 
officer  merely  upon  the  ground  that  he  is  a farmer  or 
mechanic,  without  reference  to  his  qualifications. 

In  a free  government,  the  true  emanation  of  the  pop- 


[ 13  ] 


ular  will — the  laws  and  policies  should  be  the  result 
of  the  average  interests,  and  average  thought,  and 
average  aspirations  of  the  people.  Among  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  and  their  descendants,  there  seems  to  be 
an  aptitude  for  free  institutions;  and  this  aptitude 
seems  to  consist,  in  a large  degree,  in  the  capacity  to 
ascertain  what  this  common  and  average  opinion  is, 
and  then  to  give  it  effect.  This  is  what  may  be  termed 
the  common  seiise  of  the  community,  and  the  govern- 
ment— its  tendencies  and  policies — can  rarely  be  higher, 
nobler  or  wiser  than  this  common  sense  demands.  In 
the  formation  of  this  average  and  common  opinion — 
in  giving  it  voice  and  force  in  the  government,  the  ag- 
riculturists of  the  State,  constituting  four-fifths  of  the 
people,  should  exercise  a potential  influence.  They 
are  usually  conservative.  The  methods  by  which  they 
acquire  pecuniary  independence  are  prudence,  patience, 
energy  and  economy.  As  a rule,  they  are  opposed  to 
a wasteful  and  extravagant  administration — as  tax- 
payers, and  not  tax-receivers,  their  influence  would  be 
to  cut  down  expenditures  to  the  lowest  possible  limit 
consistent  with  administrative  efficiency.  Unskilled 
in  political  and  party  machinery,  they  would  be  against 
all  jobs  and  rings — all  bounties  to  favorites — all  ex- 
penditures not  for  the  public  good. 

I would  not  like  to  see  a Legislature  composed  ex- 
clusively of  farmers  and  mechanics,  nor  would  it  be 
for  the  public  good  that  there  should  be  no  Represen- 
tative of  these  interests  in  that  body.  There  should 
be  in  every  Legislature  men  skilled  in  the  laws  of  the 
State,  competent  to  put  in  appropriate  language  the 
statutes  which  are  to  be  enacted,  and  to  determine  how 
far  a new  statute  will  entrench  upon  the  provisions  of 
existing  laws.  There  ought  also  to  be  there  an  influ- 


[ 14  ] 


ential  body  of  men  connected  with  the  leading  indus- 
tries of  the  State — familiar  with  the  wants  and  wishes 
of  the  great  mass  of  the  people — sharing  equally  with 
them  the  burdens  and  disasters  and  successes  of  life. 
If  they  should  draft  no  laws,  if  they  should  inaugurate 
no  new  and  untried  policies;  still  there  will  be  that  in 
the  very  atmosphere  in  which  such  a body  of  men 
move  which  will  influence  beneficially  the  action  of  the 
Legislature. 

Influence  on  Negroes. 

I have  said  that  the  capacity  for  the  safe  and  orderly 
working  of  free  institutions  seemed  to  be  a race  apti- 
tude of  the  Anglo  Saxons,  and  their  descendants,  and 
this  aptitude  seems  to  consist  largely  in  tho  capacity 
of  that  race  to  understand  and  give  effect  to  the  com- 
mon and  average  opinion  and  aspirations  of  the  peo- 
ple— that  this  was  governing  by  the  common  sense  of 
the  community. 

It  is  the  peculiar  felicity  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race, 
that  this  average  common  sense  of  the  people  has  fa- 
vored equality  in  rights  and  privileges  among  the  peo- 
ple. That  it  has  been  liberty-loving,  and  at  the  same 
time  conservative  and  law-abiding. 

It  has  bowed  before  the  majesty  of  law,  and  sought 
redress  for  wrongs  by  lawful  means.  It  has  been  pro- 
gressive ; but  it  has  reached  its  aims  by  sure  and  slow 
steps,  tempering  progress  with  conservatism,  change 
with  a leaven  of  the  past.  It  has  hastened  slowly — 
with  the  patience  of  the  insect  toilers  of  the  sea,  which 
consume  ages  in  building  the  coral  islands — it  has 
spent  a thousand  years  in  developing  the  principles 
and  perfecting  the  measures  upon  which  free  govern- 
ment rests.  Its  advance  has  been  regular  and  steady — 


[ 15  ] 


sometimes  cautious  and  tentative,  marked  by  retreats, 
but  by  no  deliberate  counter-marches. 

This  average  opinion,  this  common  sense  of  the  peo- 
ple of  England,  is  largely  the  result  of  the  thought  and 
feelings  of  the  country  people,  the  agriculturists  and 
freeholders. 

There  is  another  reason  of  great  moment,  which  de- 
mands a larger  infusion  of  agriculturists  in  public  af- 
fairs. A majority  of  the  population  of  the  State  con- 
sists, now,  and  is  likely  to  consist  for  many  years,  of  a 
race  which  has  no  capacities  for  self-government.  It 
will  be  a long  time,  if  ever,  when  that  race  shall  cease 
to  be  a powerful  factor  in  public  affairs. 

How  this  race,  free  as  they  are  to  pursue  such  politi- 
cal methods  as  they  choose,  or  may  be  chosen  for  them, 
is  to  be  prevented  from  adopting  such  courses  as  will 
bar  progress  and  check  prosperity,  is  a problem  which 
we  must  solve,  if  solution  be  possible.  It  can’t  be 
solved  by  education  alone,  for  self-government  is  not  a 
science  to  be  taught.  The  Germans  are  the  best  edu- 
cated people  on  earth.  Theie  is  no  human  learning  in 
which  they  are  not  skilled ; nothing  knowable,  which 
their  savants  have  not  mastered,  yet  with  all  their 
genius  and  learning,  with  all  their  aspirations  for  hu- 
manity, with  their  parliaments  elected  by  the  people, 
the  Fatherland  is  but  a military  camp,  its  policies  dic- 
tated by  one  iron  will.  The  French  no  less  endowed 
and  cultivated,  after  an  hundred  years  of  alternate  an- 
archy and  despotism,  after  shedding  oceans  of  blood 
in  the  vain  attempt  at  propagandism  of  republican 
ideas,  after  being  shorne  of  their  fairest  provinces  and 
humiliated  by  the  tramp  of  hostile  armies  in  their  capi- 
tal, have  again  essayed  free  institutions.  As  yet,  the 


[ 16  ] 

Republic  is  an  experiment,  a hopeful  one  I admit,  but 
the  issue  is  uncertain. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Anglo-Saxons  and  their  de- 
scendents,  now  constituting  over  two  hundred  millions 
of  English  speaking  people,  possessing  one-quarter  of 
the  globe  as  their  inheritance — wherever  they  have  lo- 
cated— in  America,  in  the  continent  of  Australia,  in 
Southern  Africa,  in  the  islands  of  Polynesia,  and  in 
whatever  stage  of  progress  the  settlers  on  the  new  lands 
may  have  been,  have  shown  their  aptitude  for  free  gov- 
ernment. 

The  problem  can’t  be  solved  by  fraud  or  force.  What- 
ever methods  of  revolution  may  be  allowed  a people 
to  regain  self-government,  to  expel  usurpers,  or  to  drive 
from  unmerited  places  those  who  have  prostituted  the 
powers  of  government  to  the  destruction  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, yet  as  soon  as  this  end  is  attained,  all 
methods  not  sanctioned  by  law  must  cease.  Poison 
may  be  administered  as  medicine  to  the  sick,  but  it 
cannot  be  made  the  normal  food  of  the  healthy.  Anglo- 
Saxon  liberty  is  a liberty  regulated  by  law.  Obedience 
to  law  is  its  soul  and  animating  spirit,  and  the  enforce- 
ment of  law  with  justice,  impartiality,  purity  and  firm- 
ness against  all,  however  strong,  and  for  the  protection 
of  all  however  weak,  is  its  corner  stone,  its  foundation 
and  support. 

That  this  people  are  unfit  for  self-government  is  no 
fault  of  theirs.  Having  neither  ancestral  aptitudes 
nor  acquired  capacities  for  free  government,  they  had 
thrust  upon  them  powers  and  duties  for  which  they 
were  wholly  unfit.  Being  recognized  “wards”  of  the 
nation,  they  were,  whilst  in  that  condition,  made  “guar- 
dians” of  the  most  sacred  trusts,  administrators  of  the 
highest  duties  of  humanity.  That  they  should  fail,  and 
fail  miserably,  was  inevitable.  It  deeply  concerns  us, 


[ 17  ] 


that  tliis  infusion  into  the  body  politic,  of  folly,  and  vice, 
and  ignorance,  of  boundless  credulity,  united  with  the 
most  inveterate  scepticism — of  a race  which  in  all  past 
ages  has  not  shown  the  slightest  capacity  for  free  gov- 
ernment, or  even  for  self-improvement,  shall  not  de- 
stroy even  our  own  capacity  for  free  institutions. 

This  race  is  in  our  midst,  yet  it  is  non-assimilable 
with,  and  unfit  for  absorption  in  the  Caucassian  race. 
We  are  two  distinct  peoples,  with  ethnological  differ- 
ences in  our  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual  natures 
of  the  most  pronounced  kind.  These  differences  in- 
clude all  race  differenced  and  distinctions  now  existing 
on  the  earth.  Each  race  here  is  the  antipodes  of  the 
other.  With  this  race  we  are  to  work  out  our  destiny. 
We  are  to  preserve  peace  and  order,  administer  justice, 
and  organize  and  operate  governmental  forces  so 
as  to  advance  the  moral  and  material  interests  of  the  peo- 
ple. I confess  the  task  appals  me.  I confess  I do  not  see 
my  way  clearly  to  joining  in  harmonious  and  progres- 
sive acton  what  God  has  so  clearly  sundered.  Our  duty 
is  to  try  to  work  out  the  problem^ — try  earnestly,  hope- 
fully if  we  may,  fairly  and  honestly,  with  no  ill-will  to 
the  associated  race,  but  rather  with  charity  and  sym- 
pathy for  them. 

It  is  not  germane  to  the  purpose  of  this  address  to 
suggest  political  measures  to  diminish  these  troubles. 
But  I may  properly  refer  to  the  part  which  agricultur- 
ists may  play  in  working  out  the  problem  before  us. 
This  race  is  now,  and  will  always  be  mainly  engaged 
in  agriculture,  the  tenants  and  laborers  and  neighbors 
of  the  farmers. 

If  this  people  are  ever  to  be  trained  to  proper  meth- 
ods in  politics,  if  they  are  ever  to  become  intelligent  co- 
workers with  the  whites  for  the  public  good,  it  must  re- 
sult from  the  teaching  and  example  of  the  farmers  of 

-3- 


[ 18  ] 


the  State.  That  this  great  work  may  be  done  thoroughly, 
the  agriculturists  must  not  only  exercise  a potential 
* influence  in  public  affairs,  but  they  must  be  educated, 
so  that  this  influence  will  be  as  beneficial  as  it  will  be 
powerful. 

Making  Agriculture  More  Attractive. 

Another  result  to  follow  the  enlarged  influence  of  ag- 
riculturists and  mechanics  in  public  affairs  will  be 
that  it  will  counteract,  to  some  extent,  the  prevailing 
disposition  of  the  ambitious  and  progressive  young 
men  to  avoid  these  pursuits  and  embark  in  those  call- 
ings and  professions,  in  which  it  is  more  easy  to  gratify 
their  aspirations  to  serve  in  public  life.  With  the  edu- 
cation and  training  we  propose  to  give  in  this  Institu- 
tion, the  usefulness  of  farmers  and  mechanics  in  their 
respective  callings  will  be  increased,  and  at  the  same 
time,  their  capacities  for  useful  and  honorable  public 
service  will  be  greatly  enlarged,  and  with  this,  will 
come  an  increase  in  the  attractiveness  of  these  callings. 
In  whatever  calling,  culture  and  intellect  are  /constant, 
operative  forces,  and  the  honorable  consideration  of 
mankind  is  accorded  to  its  followers,  will  be  found  an 
attraction  to  draw  to  it  the  ambitious,  the  progressive 
and  the  capable. 

Moreover,  we  propose  to  increase  the  attractivenesss 
of  country  life  by  teaching  easy  and  cheap  methods 
of  making  the  homes  of  farmers  more  attractive  and 
desirable. 

By  a little  skill  in  landscape  gardening  and  rustic 
architecture  the  beauty  of  rural  homes  may  be  im- 
mensely increased.  It  will  locate  every  cottage  with 
reference  to  the  best  prospect,  surround  it  with  grassy 


[ 19  ] 


plots  and  shady  trees,  and  cover  its  latticed  galleries 
with  vines  which  are  both  ornamental  and  useful. 

Though  our  summer’s  sun  may  parch  and  scorch, 
yet  he  impregnates  both  fruits  and  dowers  with  a 
sweeteness  and  perfume  and  paints  them  with  a gorge- 
ousness and  splendor  and  imparts  to  vegetation  a vig- 
or and  perfection  unknown  to  more  northern  climes. 
Our  farmers  must  be  taught  to  use  the  suns  beneficient 
powers  to  counteract  his  baleful  effects;  and  more,  to 
create  by  intelligent  work  a large  surplus  of  good,  to 
beautify  and  adorn  our  land,  to  make  it  rich  and  pros- 
perous and  our  people  great  and  happy. 

I do  not  belive  that  men  degenerate  in  our  Southern 
clime.  They  may  be  less  energetic,  less  persistent 
and  hopeful  after  failures  and  reverses,  less  disposed 
to  sacrifice  physical  comforts  to  attain  merely  material 
ends,  more  apathetic,  more  prodigal,  more  passionate, 
than  the  inhabitants  of  higher  latitudes,  yet  there  has 
been  no  great  occasion  in  our  history  when  the  gran- 
der capacities  of  humanity  were  called  into  action, 
that  this  call  has  been  made  in  vain.  That  we  have 
not  advanced  materially,  equally  with  the  Northern 
section  of  the  Union,  has  been  in  a great  degree  (I  am 
going  to  say  what  some  will  not  like  to  hear)  owing  to 
African  slavery,  the  introduction  in  our  midst  of  an  infe- 
rior race  to  whom  manual  labor  in  the  main  was  alloted, 
and  the  consequent  repulsion  from  our  land  of  the  more 
energetic  and  progressive  races  of  mankind. 

Labor  in  the  College  as  a Help  to  Education. 

In  making  manual  labor  a part  of  the  educational 
system  of  this  institution,  we  have  not  overlooked  the 
fact  that  by  it  the  means  of  the  poor  to  attend  will  be 
increased.  Our  purpose  is  to  make  his  labor  useful  as 


[ 20  ] 

well  as  educational,  so  tliat  it  will  pay  nearly  all  the 
expenses  of  the  pupils. 

Its  Military  Drill. 

Another  feature  of  the  College  will  be  the  military 
drill.  We  propose  to  teach  military  tactics  to  the  ex- 
tent that  our  graduates  may  serve  the  country  in  war 
with  efficiency  and  honor.  A large  standing  army  is 
contrary  to  the  genius  of  a free  government.  The 
main  reliance  of  the  country  for  defense  in  war,  must 
ever  be  its  citizen  soldiers. 

The  Difficulties  in  the  Way. 

I said  in  the  outset  that  I proposed  to  tell  you  of 
some  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  success  of 
this  institution.  In  the  first  place,  to  put  it  in  success- 
ful operation,  will  require  a considerable  amount  of 
money  from  the  public  treasury.  The  people  are  now 
overtaxed,  and  they  will  be  disinclined  to  increase 
their  burdens,  except  upon  the  clearest  necessity.  I 
feel  the  force  of  this;  but  still  the  money  must  be 
raised;  suitable  buildings  must  be  erected;  a laborato- 
ry furnished;  live-stock  and  farming  implements  pur- 
chased, and  suitable  professors  and*  assistants  employ- 
ed, or  the  enterprise  must  be  abandoned;  and  the  money 
we  have  received  from  the  Nation  as  an  endowment, 
must  be  returned. 

I do  not  think  the  Legislature  will  refuse  to  make 
the  necessary  appropriations.  I do  not  think  the  peo- 
ple will  complain  of  the  burden  necessary,  in  order  to 
furnish  medicine  to  cure  the  sick  body  politic,  to  re- 
vive the  dying  industries  of  the  State.  Retrenchment 
and  reform  in  other  directions  will  give  the  means  of 
putting  the  Institution  into  successful  operation,  and 


[ 21  ] 

at  the  same  time  allow  of  a lessening  of  the  public 
burdens. 

Speaking  for  the  trustees  of  this  Institution,  I say 
we  mean  not  to  antagonize  any  other  educational  insti- 
tution in  this  State,  but  to  co-operate  with  each  and  all 
of  them.  We  shall  enter  into  no  rivalry  with  them, 
except  in  the  generous  competition  to  do  good. 

To  the  State  University  we  extend  the  right  hand  of 
fellowship,  recognizing  in  her  a joint  agency  of  the 
State  with  this  College  to  educate  her  children.  Though 
the  paths  of  the  two  institutions  may  be  different, 
their  destination  is  the  same — the  public  good. 

All  we  ask  for  this  Institution  is  equality  and  justice. 

We  do  not  expect  this  to  be  denied. 

We  want  a fair  opportunity  to  open  the  doors  of  the 
store-hoijse  of  literature  and  science  to  the  industrial 
and  laboring  classes  of  our  population.  We  want  to 
alleviate  their  labors  by  uniting  them  with  an  intelli- 
gent conception  of  a wise  adaptation  of  means  to  ends, 
and  infusing  into  dull  and  monotonous  muscular  exer- 
tion, the  spirit  and  soul  of  a directing  intelligence. 
We  want  to  increase  the  usefulness  and  influence  in 
life  of  the  industrial  classes,  by  increasing  their  ca- 
pacities to  do  the  work  of  the  world.  He  want  to 
augment  the  the  store  of  happiness  and  comfort  of 
those  who  do  the  world’s  most  repulsive  yet  most 
needed  work. 

Another  difficulty  to  be  surmounted,  is  the  procur- 
ing: of  one  or  two  of  the  Professors  for  this  institution. 
We  shall  have  difficulty  in  getting  a teacher  of  agri- 
culture, who  is  both  scientific  and  practical.  If  we  ap- 
ply to  the  graduates  of  some  of  the  Agricultural  Col- 
leges already  established,  we  will  find  them  probably 
ignorant  of  the  cultivation  of  the  staple  crops  which 
we  raise.  AW  hope  to  bridge  over  this  difficulty  by 


[ 22  ] 


employing  a scientific  as  well  as  a practical  agricultu- 
rist, and  by  the  joint  action  of  the  two,  supply  the 
place  of  one  skilled  in  both  the  science  and  practice  of 
agriculture. 

There  will  be  another  difficulty  in  our  progress.  The 
public  will  expect  results  too  speedily.  In  Mississippi 
we  have  been  in  the  habit  of  growing  only  annual 
crops,  reaping  at  the  end,  all  that  we  have  sown  in  the 
beginning  of  the  year — embarking  only  in  enterprises 
which  make  immediate  returns.  This  habit  will  beget 
an  impatience  for  immediate  results.  It  will  be  four 
years  before  we  can  send  out  a graduate.  So  we  be- 
speak patience.  The  Trustees  will  do  all  in  their  power 
to  make  the  Institution  useful  and  prosperous.  It  is  a 
new  enterprise.  To  some  extent  our  efforts  will  be  ex- 
perimental ; but  we  will  proceed  cautiously,  and  with 
all  the  information  we  can  get,  derived  from  an  enquiry 
into,  and  examination  of  other  similar  Institutions, 
now  established  in  nearly  all  the  States  of  the  Union. 

And  now  we  have  seen  some  of  the  ends  we  propose 
to  attain,  and  some  of  the  difficulties  to  be  surmounted. 

The  ends  are  noble  ; the  difficulties  not  insuperable. 
To  attain  these  ends  and  to  overcome  these  difficulties, 
we  appeal  to  all  patriotic  Mississippians  for  sympathy 
and  aid.  We  invite  calm,  dispassionate  and  intelligent 
discussion  and  criticism  of  our  work — friendly  sugges- 
tions to  aid  us  to  walk  aright  in  the  difficult  path  we 
must  tread.  We  bespeak  patience  in  awaiting  for  re- 
sults. And  above  all,  we  beg  the.  hearty  co-operation 
of  all  good  men  and  women,  all  who  take  a pride  in  the 
advancement  and  prosperity  of  the  State,  in  this  effort 
to  make  labor  more  efficient  and  less  repulsive,  to 
lighten  the  burdens,  and  increase  the  enjoyments  of  the 
industrial  classes  of  the  State. 


